Chapter 656: Strategic Intelligence 2
"Captain, this is a remote and inhospitable island with nothing but a mountain that can spew flames from hell and a lot of strange stones. There were no minerals, no plantations, not even black slaves. Portuguese navigator Pedro Almeida recalled some of what he knew, and exaggerated his description of St. Helena.
St. Helena is indeed a volcanic island, but the island's volcanoes have long since become extinct. The east, west, and north sides of the island are all vertical cliffs, and there are many canyons in the south of the mountain, which are covered with volcanic ash and rocks. The only place on the island that you can land on is a bay in the northwest.
Although the barren island of St. Helena is nothing in the eyes of the Portuguese, one-third of the island is still available for arable land and reforestation. It can be used to cultivate cash crops such as potatoes, corn and vegetables, and can also be used to raise a variety of livestock. In addition, most of the timber that can be produced from afforestation is used in the construction of houses and the manufacture of exquisite wood products and furniture. In fact, the island's largest resource is fishing, which is dominated by tuna, which live in the nearby seas, which are dried and salted on the island to be eaten as pickled fish.
Thanks to the springs, the forests, and the land where crops can be grown, it became the last small habitat in the life of the First Emperor of France. Napoleon Bonaparte spent more than five years in exile at Longwood Manor, northeast of the island, before being poisoned by a chemical agent in 1821 by his attendants.
Because of the last residence of great military strategists and statesmen admired by historical and military fans all over the world, St. Helena has naturally become a sacred place in the hearts of people who worship Napoleon. To this day, a chess game made by a Chinese craftsman is still on display in Napoleon's Longwood estate, a gift from Napoleon's loyal subordinates.
Isabel Walton, the captain of the "Nemesis", knew about this holy place, and also knew about Napoleon's great life. Unfortunately, she never visited the well-preserved Longwood Manor to remember the European heroes of yesteryear. Of course, a colonial island under the direct jurisdiction of the British Crown, a small island that could not be found on the map, she couldn't seem to find a reason to travel to this island.
If you have to find a reason to visit Napoleon's estate on the island, then you need to join the naval and air forces of the United States and Britain. During World War II, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built Whitewick Air Force Base on Ascension Island, an annex to St. Helena, as a transit station and storage point between the Americas and South Africa.
From the end of World War II until the time of Isabel's life, St. Helena and its affiliated Ascension Island served as a relay point for international traffic and communications in the Atlantic, providing telecommunications services to Europe, Africa and the Americas via satellite and cable. It should be said that St. Helena-Ascension Island is a strategically important US-British naval and air base in the South Atlantic.
The only thing that intrigued Isabel was that no empire claimed sovereignty over St. Helena-Ascension Island, which had been a Portuguese and Dutch possession since 1513, and until it was occupied by the British East India Company. If you think about it, it's probably because it's an uninhabited volcanic island hanging in the middle of the sea. In the eyes of the people of the time, such a useless island could only be used as a place of exile, especially for the exile of such great figures as Napoleon Bonaparte.
Isabel glanced at the little wine left in the wine glass, smiled and looked at the navigator with a somewhat blank expression, "Sir, then, has the Portuguese Empire colonized St. Helena?" ”
Pedro glanced down at the lower left deck and shook his head, "This is an island of no use, and our King João III simply doesn't want this poor place that doesn't even have minerals." ”
"Sir, may I think so, that whoever now declares supreme jurisdiction over St. Helena can occupy it?"
"Well, I guess, something like that."
"What if I now declare to other empires that I have colonization or jurisdiction over the island?"
Pedro looked up at her and smiled suddenly, "Captain, if you hate a person but you can't kill him easily, St. Helena is the best place to place this person." ”
However, Isabel's vision of St. Helena-Ascension Island would not only be a place of exile for important political and military figures, but would also serve as a port of call between Europe and the East Indies sea route. At present, the colonial tentacles of the Portuguese Empire have extended to Asia, successively reaching Malacca, Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and the Moluccas, known as the "spice country", in the East Indies (Europe's generic name for Southeast Asia's spice-rich islands).
When England's royal navy took possession of this port of call, it was able to collect taxes from the Portuguese and plunder spices that the Portuguese had plundered from Southeast Asia. Kill the Portuguese crew and sink the merchant ship......
Isabel couldn't help but laugh at this, looking at the navigator who was joking with her, and nodded, "Sir, you're right, this is indeed a very good place to exile. ”
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As night falls, the Atlantic Ocean becomes deeper, quieter, and more dreamy. Listening to the sound of the sea and breathing in the breeze blowing through the merchant ships, Isabel and Captain Hawkins and two other privateer captains began a new plan of raiding and the slave trade in the captain's cabin of a Portuguese merchant ship.
Captain William Hawkins and two other captains became excited again after reading the transcript of her conversation with the navigator. Today's series of events have made the three captains feel a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. I never thought that a noble lady from the north could get important information about the slave trade from the navigator.
When Isabel gave a general account of the process of obtaining information, Captain Hawkins stroked his beard and laughed, "This Portuguese navigator is an idiot, and he has not seen such an obvious plan." ”
One of the captains sitting beside him also looked at the patriarch of the family with a smile, "Captain, Miss Isabel threatens to kill him, will he lose his life for the sake of the slave traders' fortress and the trading station?" ”
Isabel, who was sitting behind the captain's desk, glanced at the three captains with smiling eyes, "Gentlemen, now that the 300 black slaves have been transferred, it's time to sell them." ”
Captain Hawkins looked at her face, "Little Spain, we can go there." ”